Hoosier Salon grand-prize winner John Michael Carter, who works from Louisville, Kentucky, was born in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He considers Richard Schmid an inspiration.

A professional artist, Carter has had almost 30 one-man shows and taken part in many group exhibitions and national competitions. Among other honors, he was one of 50 artists picked for the 1991 Hubbard Museum of the American West "Award for Excellence" show in New Mexico and won "Best of Show" in the 2004 Oil Painters of America competition.

Mr. Carter is a respected teacher of drawing and painting. He has taught at Jefferson Community College in Louisville, in special events sponsored by the Historic Homes Foundation, also in Louisville, and in workshops in such locations as Scottsdale, Arizona, Dallas, Texas, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

He has been represented by galleries in New York City, Cincinnati, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Boston, Massachusetts, and other art centers.

In Kentucky, he is known for his portraits, including governors and business leaders, his landscapes, and his still lifes.